That all might sound a bit overwhelming, but I promise you, it’s not all climate doom and gloom. The good news is that you make small changes to your own exercise routine to help protect the planet, and it’s also important to note that this isn’t only your responsibility.

The fashion, fitness and sporting industries all have a huge role to play in making exercise more sustainable and ensuring that genuinely green kit and classes are accessible to all.

Here are my nine tips for cleaning up your fitness regime:

Travel actively. If you are able to, walk or cycle instead of taking the car or choose a gym close to your home or work to save the extra emissions on travel.
Watch your water time. Be mindful of how long you spend in the shower post-workout (while making sure that you do actually get clean). Try to use zero-waste and plastic-free shampoo, shower gel and deodorant.
Wash carefully. Use a micro-filter bag when washing your clothing to catch those microplastics.
Always opt for reusable tools. Use a reusable water bottle during your workout.
Say ‘no’. Opt out of unwanted marketing (emails, gym newsletters etc.) and free T-shirts at races and events.
Do the maths. Use an app to calculate and offset your CO2 emissions travelling to and from the gym, your sports club or race.
Wear green. Choose high quality sustainable activewear clothing that is designed to last. Buy second hand if possible, and donate to a charity or organization that can reuse or repair like Re-run Clothing.
Change the way you race. Enter a virtual race rather than picking ones in far-flung locations, and opt for races that have gone cupless, don’t hand out free shirts and are actively off-setting their carbon expenditure.
Put your power to good use. Try a gym like Terra Hale, which runs on power generated by human force.

The environmental cost of fitness: is your workout costing the earth?